Wenger frustrated with refereeing errors

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
17 Feb	7:45 PM	CL	Fc Porto (A)	1	2	Lost

Manager Arsène Wenger has been left frustrated with the refereeing decisions that he thinks cost Arsenal the game against Porto in midweek.

Whilst captain Cesc Fabregas put the defeat down to 'schoolboy errors', Wenger has chosen to criticise the referee's performance.

The Frenchman was infuriated by referee Martin Hansson, with some media sources quoting Wenger saying that Hansson was 'either dishonest or incompetent'.

Wenger took Friday's pre-match press conference to pinpoint the five basic errors he thought Hansson got wrong.

He said: "The rule is quite clear. I don't want to go too much into details but he made at least five technical mistakes.

"The technical errors were: first he did not give the free-kick at the point where it happened.

"Then he did not stand in the right position. Then he did not put the players at the proper distance.

"Then he should not have given a quick free-kick [and allowed them to] play once he is in the middle of the action.

"Also he didn't raise his arm [for an indirect free-kick] until it was too late. In that particular incident that is five technical mistakes in the same moment of the game.

"He takes the ball five yards from the goal, puts it down and says 'play and score'. It is ridiculous.

"You cannot give a quick free-kick when the referee is in the middle of the action. When people play quick free-kicks, the referee whistles but he is far from the ball, the guy puts the ball down and plays quickly.

"If [the ref] is there in the middle, where the free-kick is, he cannot give a [quick] free-kick anymore. He has to make sure the opponent is at nine metres distance and, in that case, the opponent had to be on the goal-line. And, apart from all that, where he gave free-kick in the wrong place.

"I believe he is incompetent or dishonest, so I prefer to believe he is not competent.

"Usually, I trust the referee," Wenger went on. "I never have any bad intention but when I speak with referees, I just wanted to understand why he made so many technical mistakes.

"For example, he missed a 100 per cent penalty on Rosicky. That is a judgement in a second that I can accept but [it is different] once it gets to a technicality and he has made a decision.

"For me the back pass of Sol Campbell was accidental but he has judged it [deliberate]. OK we have a difference there. OK that I can accept. But, technically, so many mistakes. Where he stands is completely wrong at the moment he gives a free-kick.

"He takes the ball from Lukasz Fabianski. They score. What he does doesn't make common sense and is against the rules of the referees.

"So when a guy makes so many technical mistakes that is not even linked to judgement, I believe he is not competent."

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